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Syracuse police respond to an unrelated call at the 550 Clinton Plaza Apartments. A 20-year-old man was stabbed on the fourth floor of the apartment complex early Monday. An 18-year-old woman has been charged.
(Scott Schild | sschild@syracuse.com)

Syracuse, NY -- A Syracuse man stabbed in the chest early Monday is expected to survive, city police said.

Ronnie Kirkland, 20, was stabbed at 12:20 a.m. at the 550 Clinton Plaza Apartments where he lives, at 550 S. Clinton St., Syracuse, police said. He was in critical, but stable condition Monday afternoon at Upstate University Hospital, police said.

Shandrika Kersey, 18, of Syracuse, has been charged with second-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.

Police say Kersey stabbed Kirkland in the chest after an argument in the fourth-floor hallway. She was found by police and arrested. She is being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center. Jail records show Kersey also is being held on endangering the welfare of a child and criminal trespass charges from the Onondaga County Sheriff's Office. Details of those charges were not immediately available.

Early Monday morning, Kersey was talking on a phone while Kirkland was playing loud music in the hallway, city police Sgt. Thomas Connellan said. The pair, who are not boyfriend and girlfriend, got into an argument, which escalated in the hallway, Connellan said.

"It got physical," Connellan said. "They hit each other. She left and came back with a knife and found him, and stabbed him in the chest."

Kirkland was transported to Upstate University Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery for massive bleeding, police said.

Kersey was arraigned Monday in Syracuse City Court and sent to the Onondaga County jail without bail. She is expected to reappear in court Friday.

Kersey's profile picture on her Facebook page pays tribute to Charles "Chuck" Pitts, a Corcoran High School senior who was stabbed to death Oct. 27 as a party was dispersing from the recreation room at the same apartment complex, at 550 S. Clinton St. It was immediately unclear how Kersey knew Pitts.